


R is for Restrained

by Jazzie



Series: A to Z of Danny Whump! [18]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 18:23:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11857095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazzie/pseuds/Jazzie
Summary: Danny is not happy when he wakes in a strange place, all he wants is his own bed.





	R is for Restrained

Danny’s return to consciousness was unpleasant at best.  The ground was cold and hard, his body ached like he’d been grabbed by a large wave and spun over again and again before being flung on hard packed sand.  He tried to stretch his body to remove some of the kinks and found that his hands were tied behind his back, his ankles tied together.  To make matters worse he realised that his ankles were then also tied to his wrists.

 _‘You have to be kidding me?  Hogtied_ again! _Someone out there really hates me.”_ Danny thought with disgust.  This time was a little less painful as he was at least lying on his side.  _‘Now where am I?  How the hell did I get here?’_

The thinking wasn’t helping the severe migraine that was still pounding his brain, he had no idea how long he’d had it.  There was a chance he’d been out for hours or even days.  The one thing he had managed to establish, where ever he was, it was dark.

Trying to think back to how he’d come to be in this position was difficult, but he remembered being at his apartment with Steve…

“Steve?” the question came out as more of a whisper.  There was no reply from the pitch black that surrounded him.  The last thing he remembered was an arm around his throat and fighting to remain conscious, he’d clearly failed given his current circumstances.  Still he knew his partner _had_ been with him, the question was, was he here with him _now_?  “Steve!” he called louder.

There was some rustling nearby and a shaft of bright light filled the dark space, “Shut up!” growled a male voice from the other side of that light.  Danny couldn’t see him; it was like the man was standing behind a flashlight that was being shone directly into his eyes, which he’d been unable to keep open for more than a few seconds, as the light assaulted his already tortured head.

“What do you want?” Danny wanted to know.  Perhaps he could find out who had him and where he was.

“You’re in no position to make demands!  Now shut up!”

The light disappeared with another rustle, even with his eyes closed Danny could tell as the level of darkness behind his eyelids became deeper.

Right, he wasn’t getting any answers from his captor, or possibly captors, just because he’d only heard one voice didn’t mean there weren’t more.  The next move was to see if he could free himself.  Wiggling he pulled at his bindings until he was breathless from the effort, all he’d done was cause the ropes to burn the flesh at his wrists and ankles, didn’t look like he was getting the ropes undone anytime soon.  Even if he did, he was in no condition to take on anyone, no matter how many there were.  Add to that the fact he didn’t know where he was… yeah, he was screwed.

 _‘Come on Danno, man up!  Look at the advantages of your situation.’_ Steve’s voice popped unbidden, but not necessarily unwelcomed, into Danny’s head.

 _‘There’s an advantage to my current situation?  Oh please, Super SEAL Steve, do enlighten me!’_ Oh yeah, he was in a bad way, he was bickering with Steve in his head.

 _‘You have a migraine and you’re in the dark.  You always told me that complete dark was one of the best things for it,”_ imaginary Steve pointed out.

 _‘Huh, well that’s true enough.  Then again so are heavy duty painkillers when I get one this bad,’_ thought Danny.

_‘Rest.  You never know when the opportunity to escape your situation will come up.  We’re looking for you, you know that, but you need to help yourself.’_

_‘Yeah, you’re right.  I’ll just try to rest…’_ the overwhelming desire to sleep, despite his uncomfortable position, overcame him and he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

 

 

-5-0-

 

 

“How did you manage to commandeer a helicopter?” Kono asked over the mic connected to her headset.

“The owner of the tour company is a friend,” Chin replied from his seat beside Steve, who was, naturally, flying the chopper.

“How long will it take us to get there?”

“About thirty minutes,” responded Steve.

“What are we gonna do when we get there?  I mean we have no idea where Jordan might have taken Danny!” it wasn’t that Kono doubted Steve but following one man to an island like Moloka’i, with no idea where he might be going was a little crazy.  Then again Danny always said their boss was insane!

“There aren’t many places that a chopper can land on Moloka’i.  You can’t land a chopper on the North shore; it can only be reached by boat.  My bet is they’ve taken Danny there.  Not many tourists actually walk through the forests on that side of the island, because it is so difficult to reach.  We’ll land at Kalaupapa airport and then we’ll just have to start asking around, see if we can find out if Jordan has been seen and if he’s paid someone for a boat trip.  If he has then we’ll know where he’s taken Danny.”

“This could all be a red herring,” Chin warned.  He didn’t like the idea of not knowing where Danny was any more than the others but he needed to be the voice of reason.

“It could,” agreed Steve, “But it’s the only lead we have.”

The rest of the flight was spent in silence.  Once they landed at the airport they produced the permit that had been arranged via the Governor and were met by a police officer who introduced himself as Keanu Iona.  Nobody commented on the name.  Steve made a point of showing Bane Jordan’s picture around, but nobody at the airport had seen him.  It had been a long shot that the man had actually landed there, as no doubt he’d want to stay beneath the authorities’ radar.

“I suggest going into Kalaupapa to find out if anyone has any knowledge of this man,” the officer indicated the photo Steve still held, “Or if a stranger has requested a private boat trip.  Although he hasn’t come into the airport here, this is the nearest place on this side of the island for getting a boat to go further along the North shore.”

“Sounds like a good place to start,” replied Steve, “Let’s go.”  They climbed into the local officer’s car.

It was actually Officer Iona that found them a witness, “Commander McGarrett this is Ms Pula, she says her cousin told her about a man who wanted to charter a private boat.”

“Ms Pula, can you tell me what your cousin said?”

“A man said he would pay him $5000 to drop him and some friends at Pelekunu Bay and return for him in a week.  I saw him a short time ago and he told me he had been paid $2500 and would get the rest when he picked them up.”

“Did you see the man?  Where is your cousin now?”

“No I didn’t.  He’s gone to Lanai and won’t return until the men need to be picked up, he can’t be reached though I’m afraid.  Does any of that help you?”

“Yes, Ms Pula, it helps us a lot, thank you.”

The group turned away to discuss their next step, “No way you can get into Pelekunu Bay unless it’s by boat.”

“Can you help us find someone to take us?” Steve asked.

“I can try, but if that is where they’ve taken your man, the Pelekunu Preserve is over five thousand acres, you’ll never find him.”

“If you can help get us a boat to charter,” Steve ignored what Iona was saying about the size of the Preserve as he walked off to call the Governor with an update.

“He can’t be serious?  It will take days and a lot of man power to search that area.”

“Oh, he’s deadly serious.  If anyone can find Danny out there it’s Steve McGarrett,” assured Chin.

“Look, I know you want to find your friend but I just don’t see how the three of you are going to manage it.”

“Steve’s a Navy SEAL,” Kono stated as if that explained everything.

“Now please, who do we need to speak to about chartering a boat?” Chin asked.

“I’ll go and speak to a few people,” reluctantly the young officer left to see what he could do to assist.  No matter how futile he thought their expedition was, he was part of law enforcement too and that meant that Detective Williams was a brother in arms.  If the only way he could help him was to get his team a boat, then that’s what he’d do.

It took him half an hour but he finally tracked down a local willing to take the team out to Pelekunu Bay.  Once again he made the introductions, “Commander McGarrett; Detective Kelly; Officer Kalakaua, this is Jon Delaney, he has agreed to take you where you need to go.”

The three 5-0 team members shook hands with Jon Delaney, grateful for his willingness to help.  Within an hour they were leaving the shore behind.  An hour after that Jon manoeuvred his medium sized boat into the bay, a small dinghy was lowered and the 5-0 team headed to shore.

Each of them had a back pack with water, food, a radio, sleeping bag and first aid equipment.  There was no way to know how far they’d have to go or what condition Danny would be in, if, no, _when_ , they found him.  Jon returned to Kalaupapa and the team would radio him when they needed him to come back for them.

“Alright, the Pelekunu Preserve isn’t actually open to the public and is monitored carefully, so I think they would stay to the edges.  Maybe they’re using one of the caves along this side of the shore.”

“They wouldn’t have gone far anyway, if Danny was unconscious he’d have been a burden that they wouldn’t want to carry given the terrain, if he was conscious I can’t imagine he was very co-operative!”  Chin provided.

“Agreed.  Let’s head east,” Steve started climbing the steep hill that would lead them towards the next bay and to an area where several well hidden caves were located.  He had made a point of speaking to Kamekona and asking about the island, the man had been a mine of information and had supplied topo maps with the location of caves marked on them, provided by a friend of a friend.  Steve didn’t ask, he was just glad to have the intel.

 

 

-5-0-

 

 

Danny woke again to complete darkness.  The pounding in his head had lessened a little but he was under no illusions that if he was again exposed to light it would increase with a vengeance.  The detective wasn’t prepared to lay there and wait for the final blow, whatever it may be, to fall or be rescued like some scared and helpless damsel.  He had to find a way out.

He struggled with his ropes once again, twisting his hands to try and manipulate them closer to any of the knots that were holding him in this ridiculous position.  There was no sense of time, so he didn’t know how long he kept it up for, but he would rest before starting another attempt.  The trickle of blood that he felt run down his arms and ankles told him that if he had succeeded in doing nothing else, then he’d at least managed to tear the skin where the ropes were wrapped around him, not the result he was hoping for.

If it wouldn’t have made his head worse he would definitely be banging his head against the hard surface on which he was lying.  Why did these things always happen to him?  It had always been Super SEAL that attracted trouble in the past, and by that he meant gunfire and explosions, yet it always seemed to be Danny these days.  Had he broken a mirror at some point?  Was it possible that a native Hawaiian had put a curse on him?  If he ever got out of this perhaps he should speak to Kamekona about the possibility of changing his luck via a Hawaiian ritual or two.  It might not help, but at this point it certainly couldn’t hurt!

A rustling near what Danny figured must be the opening had him closing his eyes and evening out his breathing in an attempt to feign sleep.  The person entering wasn’t particularly quiet but they did undo the rope connecting his wrists to his ankles.  The relief was almost unbearable but he knew that pain would likely follow when the numbness wore off.

The pounding in his head wasn’t helped when the man pulled him into a more upright position and then dragged him outside into the bright light of the day and unceremoniously dumped him in a heap.  Danny took a few moments to open his eyes and saw two men before the light became too much and he slammed his eyes shut again.

“Here,” a deep male voice spoke as a bottle of water was held to Danny’s lips and he instinctively drank it, taking as much as he could possibly manage in the time he was allowed.  The whole thing was a huge mistake, as the moment he stopped drinking his stomach rebelled and quickly ejected what he’d just had, leaving him lying on his side panting.

Feeling himself grabbed again, he was once more thrust back into the dark place he was being kept in, his captor was none too gentle and his head bounced off the floor causing him to groan.  Danny was left ankles still bound and hands still tied behind his back but the rope connecting the two was not replaced.

Danny could feel a trickle of blood run down his temple from where his head had struck the ground.  Really he just didn’t care though, the feeling was returning to his legs, never had he thought pins and needles would be so painful.  Then there was the increased level of his headache…

Ignoring all the pain and using the fact that it was now easier for him to move around, Danny shuffled towards what he thought was the back of the place he was being held.  Once he felt a solid wall behind him, he managed to manoeuvre so he was sat back against it.  The change in position from laying down to sitting up made his head spin and he was sure if it had been light enough to see the room would have been moving.  Given the wall behind him and the texture of the floor beneath him, Danny finally figured out that he must be in a cave, the entrance of which was either naturally hidden or had been camouflaged by his captors.

A cave, they weren’t uniform, which meant there might be sharp areas, sharp areas that he could cut his ropes on!  Despite feeling so unwell he started a systematic search of the wall and the floor that he could feel with his hands.

An exhausting but undefined amount of time later, he couldn’t see his watch after all, Danny found a small but sharp piece of rock jutting from the wall behind him.  Leaning forward and lifting his arms up at a very uncomfortable angle he started to saw the rope at his wrists backwards and forwards over the piece of rock.  It seemed to take forever but eventually the rope holding his wrists together snapped apart and Danny carefully moved his arms round to the front of his body, biting his bottom lip at the pain it caused.  He wanted to lay down right there and sob but he wanted out of this cave and away from the two men he’d seen more. 

Of course, it did occur to him that just because he’d seen two men didn’t mean there weren’t more, but rather than sitting tied up in a cave waiting, he was going to take his survival into his own hands and damn well fight for it.  The same as Super SEAL would, maybe Danny didn’t have Steve’s survival skills but he had something just as good in his eyes, a desire to survive this ordeal and go back to his daughter and ohana.

With renewed energy Danny worked his fingers until he got feeling back and then worked on the knots of the rope around his ankles.  He completely ignored the rope burns and skin tears around both wrists and ankles; instead he concentrated on restoring feeling to his limbs.  Once confident that he had enough feeling back he used the wall and pushed to his feet.  Yes, he was wobbly, no, he probably couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag but he had stubbornness and the advantage of surprise on his side.  The men didn’t know he was now free.  Using his new found mobility, and feeling very much like a toddler taking his first steps again, Danny moved around the cave, finding the best way to balance and looking for loose rocks that could be a potential weapon.

Groping blindly in the pitch black his hand fell on a solid good sized rock and he hefted it in his hands, getting used to the weight and finding the best way to hold it to use as a weapon.  Finding the entrance, or exit depending on your point of view, Danny gently shifted the vines that were covering it.  The sun was setting.  Now he had to decide whether running around what he could clearly see was a forest, in the middle of the night or waiting till morning, was the most sensible idea.  He could make out the form of two men in the lengthening shadows.

One of them made up his mind for him, as he got up from where he’d been lounging and started towards the cave.  Now it was then.

Holding his breath Danny waited for the man to pull back the vines, as the poor light from the dusk reached into the cave the man didn’t see Danny pushed back against the wall to his left but he also couldn’t see him laying where he expected to see him either.  Grabbing a flashlight that was in his waist band, the man shone it where he’d last seen Danny but had made the mistake of stepping into the cave slightly. 

Taking the opportunity presented, Danny brought the rock down on the back of the man’s head using as much force as he could.  Granted it wasn’t as much force as Steve could use, in fact the SEAL probably wouldn’t have needed a rock, hell it wasn’t even as much force as Danny would normally use, but it was sufficient for the man to drop to his knees, dropping his flashlight which blinked out, but Danny was already taking a second swing and the rock made contact with the other man’s skull again.  There was the sound of breath being forced out of a body as he hit the floor and then silence. 

Danny scrambled to find the flashlight figuring if he was going to be running around a dark forest he was going to need it, then retreated back to wait for the second man to appear.  He didn’t have to wait long.

“Bane?  What ya doing man?” the deep male voice from earlier called, “Hey, Bane!”  There was a grumble and then the distinct noise of movement as he headed towards the mouth of the cave.

Once again Danny stood ready and waiting for the man to step across the threshold.  He wasn’t disappointed.  Stupidly the man shone his flashlight into the darkness and spotted Bane lying on the ground.  Instead of checking for Danny, probably figuring that he was still tied up somewhere in the depths of the cave, he knelt next to his fallen comrade.  The detective swung the rock, once, twice, connecting both times.  The second man fell beside the first.

Danny’s breathing was ragged from the effort, but he wasted no time and hurried to grab the second flashlight.  Hurrying out of the place that had been his prison for god only knows how long, he checked the back packs that the two men had.  He grabbed one, making sure he had got all the water bottles and the few food items.  That’s all he took, there was no time for anything else as he heard a low groan coming from the cave.  Throwing the back pack over his shoulder, he entered the forest as the last ray of sun dipped below the horizon.

 

 

-5-0-

 

 

Steve, Chin and Kono had been searching for a few hours but hadn’t seen any sign of Danny or potential captors.  The light was starting to fail and although they had flashlights, searching in the dark wasn’t going to work as they could miss a sign that showed them which direction to go next.

Reluctantly the three team members took off their packs and pulled out the tightly rolled sleeping bags, water and some food.  The food was simple, fruit and granola bars.  They couldn’t afford to light a fire in case it alerted someone to their presence.

“Steve?”

“Yeah Kono?”

“Do you really think we can find him out here?” her voice was uncertain.

Straining in the near dark Steve could just make out her form in the sleeping bag huddled the other side of Chin, “Yes, I do.”  The confidence in the SEAL’s voice was reassuring to both Kono and Chin, “We’ll each take a watch of two hours.  I’ll take the first one, then Kono, then Chin and then I’ll go again.”

“Split it up into two and a half hour slots you’ll only have to take one watch then,” Chin spoke for the first time in a while.

“I’m used to going without sleep for longer periods.  Two hour watches,” the order in his tone was unmistakeable and the other two capitulated without further argument.

Their night passed peacefully enough and Steve woke the others at first light.  They rolled up their sleeping bags, drank some more water and ate some more fruit and a granola bar each, then gathered their things and kept going east, hoping that today they’d find Danny.  The longer he was missing the more likely it was that they weren’t going to find him, alive at least.  That was something none of them wanted to think about.

 

 

-5-0-

 

 

Danny had spent a restless night curled into the roots of a tree.  He knew he hadn’t gone far enough from his captors but didn’t want to risk using the flashlights after the first hour in case they were spotted.

The night hadn’t been cold but Danny was still suffering the effects of his migraine and being tied up, so a steady shiver set in a short time before the sun started to rise above the horizon.  The moment Danny could see his hand in front of his face, not an easy feat given that the aura of his migraine was worse than before; he was on his feet and moving.  He hoped it was in the right direction but given he didn’t even know where he was, though something told him it wasn’t Oahu, there was no telling if his judgement was right.

Something was telling him to head down the slope, maybe it was the voice of Super SEAL or maybe it was just logic, either way that’s what he did.  He tried to keep his footsteps quiet, avoiding branches or anything that could possibly give away his position to the men that he was sure were now trying to find him in the cold light of day.

His gait was unsteady and he stumbled multiple times, resting frequently.  The ache of his body had now become a constant companion, one he pushed to the back of his mind, instead dragging thoughts of Gracie and the team to the forefront.  The pictures helped keep him going.  Danny was confident that where ever he was, the team was looking for him and wouldn’t give up till he’d been found.  Dead or alive.  Of course he’d much prefer alive, even if he couldn’t say well right now.

The sound of heavy footfalls in the distance, though too close for comfort, spurred him on.  He could hear the cursing of at least two men.  Gathering all the energy, and balance, he could muster he picked up his pace.  It wasn’t much but every little bit helped.  He didn’t know whether to be relieved or not when he finally saw the edge of the forest.  Open space meant nothing to prop himself up on and that he could be easily spotted but it also meant, if he could stay upright, he could move quicker and was less likely to stumble over tree roots.

Reaching the edge of the forest the open space was actually not what he’d expected, though he didn’t know why.  This wasn’t the sort of place where there were lots of fields; it was a rain forest after all.  The open space was a narrow, rocky, strip, so much for not stumbling over anything since a lot of the rocks looked to be loose.  On the other side of the strip the ground just seemed to end.  Looking up Danny could see the ocean and listening he could hear the distant crash of waves against rocks.  So, it’s a cliff then.  Definitely not going to head in that direction, he didn’t want to make it too easy for the Neanderthals, nope, he couldn’t use that term, it’s what he called Steve and therefore to call them that insulted his partner.  Morons, he’d settle on calling them morons, he couldn’t make it too easy on them.  If they find him they could just toss his body over the cliff and nobody would be any the wiser. 

It didn’t occur to him to question why they hadn’t done that already, probably something to do with the fact that his brain right now would love nothing more than to shut down completely.

Decision made, Danny stayed in the trees but kept the strip of rocky open ground in sight.  If nothing else the rocks would make great ammunition.  Sadly he didn’t make it far before he stumbled and fell to the ground.  There was no energy left to allow him to get back to his feet.  Knowing that he needed to have a rest, he settled for crawling into the open space and amassing a good amount of the rocks, he then crawled further into the trees and found what he hoped was a good place to hide, stacking his ammunition close by after a couple of trips.  He could now add cut and grazed hands and knees to his list of woes but he didn’t care.  Minutes later he was dozing quietly.

He didn’t know how long had passed but there were hushed voices nearby and they were heading in his direction.  Hunkered down behind the big tree roots he was well hidden when the two men came into view, walking out in the open slightly, maybe so they could move quicker.

“He definitely came this way,” one of the men, he thinks it’s the one called Bane, was looking at the ground, probably seeing a broken branch or foot print that Danny inadvertently left behind.

There is some satisfaction when, as the pair scan the treeline, he can see dried blood on both their faces where it had run down from the wounds he’d caused.  He felt no remorse, served the morons right for underestimating him, as all too many people did.

Danny gathered a couple of the rocks he had nearby and waited for the two men to get closer.  The moment the pair became a threat he let the rocks fly at each of them.  He played baseball and had always had great aim, even if it didn’t have his usual strength behind the throw.  Then of course there was the catapult his Dad had to confiscate when he’d broken the kitchen window practicing with it, not such a great shot that time!

Both men cursed loudly as a rock struck each of them in the chest.  Well that had to hurt, Danny thought with great satisfaction.  Neither man was intelligent enough to figure out which direction the rocks had come from and instead thought that shouting threats would get him to come out or reveal where he was, like he thought earlier, morons.

“Come out now and we won’t hurt you,” the one he knew as Bane said.  What did the guy think he was, five?!

“We’ll take you back to the cave and give you some food and water,” the other man said in what he must have thought was a calm and soothing voice, but was actually like listening to nails scraping down a chalkboard in Danny’s opinion.

“Show yourself!  If you don’t it will be worse for you when we get hold of you,” growled Bane.  This pair of morons watched too many movies.

A noise behind Danny had him spinning round on his ass with a rock in his hand ready to throw; the sight that met his eyes caused his mouth to drop open and his eyes to fill with tears.

“Kono?” he asked in a whisper, not sure if he could trust his own eyes.

Moving quietly so she was kneeling in front of him, she replied with a whisper of her own, “Yeah Danny, it’s me,” she looked at the rock that was still raised, “You can put that down now,” reaching out she put her hand over his and lowered it.  Her other hand reached up and touched his face lightly as if to reassure herself that he was really in front of her.

“Oh god,” a small sob was out of his mouth before he could prevent it, but if Kono heard it she didn’t let on.  He allowed her to pull him against her slender body and hold him there.  All she could feel were the trembles running through him, “Steve, Chin?” he asked in a voice so unaccustomed to being used that it was husky and low.

“There,” she indicated the open area where the two morons had stepped further into the tree line.  They were so intent that they didn’t see the two men coming round behind them so quietly that their footsteps made absolutely no sound.

Steve’s grin was feral as his arm slipped around Bane’s neck and choked him into unconsciousness, just as one of the men had done to Danny.  Chin in complete synch with their boss subdued the other man with little effort; a blow to a pressure point in his neck dropped him immediately.

Kono helped a relieved Danny to his feet and pretty much supported his weight as she helped him out to the open area so that they could better assess his condition.  When Steve saw his best friend he would have loved nothing more than to wake up the unconscious men and torture them in the most painful way he could imagine and as a Navy SEAL he knew quite a few ways.

He shook off the desire; Danny needed him more right now, he watched him stumble and Kono gently lowered him down to the ground again and rested his back against a rock that was covered by the shade of a giant tree.

“Kono, get on the radio, request a medevac and the Moloka’i police, we’ll need their help getting these two back to Oahu.”

Though she didn’t want to leave Danny’s side she had at least had a chance to touch him, hear his voice and feel him breathing.  She had been reassured that he was still alive.  Stepping back she allowed Steve room.

The SEAL immediately noted how pale, almost translucent, Danny’s skin was as he pulled on a pair of latex gloves that he had retrieved from his back pack.  There was dried blood on his temple and as Steve touched the area he could feel the lump underneath.  Cleaning the cut, he saw that it was small, likely wouldn’t even require stitches, but with the blood removed the bruising was already pronounced.  He gently placed a couple of butterfly strips across the cut.  Moving down he noticed Danny’s wrists and growled as he inspected the damage.  Once again he cleaned them and put on a dressing.  Danny indicated his ankles and it was all Steve could do not to get up and drag the two men that Chin had cuffed back to consciousness somehow and then throw them off the nearby cliff. 

Danny reached out a hand and placed it on Steve’s knee as if he sensed his desire to go off the reservation to deal with the two morons; it amazed Steve that despite having his eyes firmly shut Danny still knew what was going on in his head.  Gently the SEAL treated his partner’s ankles in the same manner as his wrists.

There was a multitude of cuts and scrapes on his hands and underneath the torn material of his pants but they were superficial.  Steve was more worried by the fact that Danny didn’t seem able to open his eyes.

“Danny,” his voice was soft as if he was dealing with Grace instead of her father, “I need you to open your eyes for me.”

“Can’t,” was the equally soft reply.  Danny knew if he did the world would be spinning and he couldn’t face the disorientation that it caused, “Migraine.”

“Still?” Steve asked, even more concerned, “Will you try drinking some water?”

“OK,” Danny acquiesced.  He knew he was dehydrated, which wouldn’t help his migraine one bit.  Steve held the bottle as he slowly sipped the water.  The bottle was removed so as not to overburden his system too soon.  Unfortunately it didn’t work and Danny leant over to the side as his body once again rejected the fluid he so desperately needed.  Steve was right beside him, holding him, supporting him through the heaves that caused his battered and aching body to hurt that much more.

“Shhh, it’s alright.  I’ve got you.”

“Arm and leg feel funny,” mumbled Danny “Can’t move them.”

“Which side?” Steve was concerned at this turn of events.

“Left.”

“Can you move them at all?” He watched as Danny managed to move them slightly but it was clear that there was reduced muscle strength, “Kono, how long until the medevac arrives?” he called out to her.

She spoke to Chin who jogged over, the only member of the team not to have had any interaction with Danny since they located him, now he needed to get close and see for himself how he was doing, “They should be here in fifteen minutes.  The coast guard is coming and they’ll transport him to Oahu for treatment, as long as he’s stable enough, otherwise he’ll have to go the Big Island.”

“Oahu would be better,” Steve looked at Chin.  They could protect Danny better there, not to mention Grace was there.

“How you doing Danny?”

“Tired.  Feel weird.”

“We’ll have you out of here and in a nice comfortable bed before you know it brah,” Chin rested his hand on Danny’s shoulder as much to reassure himself as his friend.

Without warning Danny collapsed against Steve, “Shit!” slightly unsteady fingers reached for his carotid pulse and Steve was relieved to feel the weaker than normal, but still there, beat.  Chin had rested his hand on Danny’s chest and was equally relieved to find his hand moving up and down.

“Are you going to go in the chopper with him?”

“I want to, but I also want to take those two and hang them by their ankles from one of the trees that actually overhang the cliff!  There were four men at Danny’s apartment; I want to know where the other two are!”

That got a small smile from Chin, “Danny wouldn’t approve brah!”

“I dunno, I think in this case he’d make an exception,” Kono joined in from where she was standing watch over the now stirring prisoners.

“The coast guard can probably take us all back to Oahu,” Steve pointed out.

“Yeah but at least one of us needs to stay here with this pair,” Chin gestured at the two men groaning on the ground where they’d fallen.

“Not if we hang ‘em from a tree, they’ll still be there when Officer Iona gets here!”

Both Chin and Kono wanted nothing more than to agree, because they did want to be with Danny so desperately.  The other snag, of course, was that Steve was the only one able to pilot the chopper they’d borrowed.

The discussion was cut short for the time being as the coast guard helicopter came into view.  The pilot skilfully manoeuvred the chopper to hover over the area despite the winds that battered it.  A rope was thrown down and Chin grabbed it in order to steady the decent of the medic as they exited the craft.  Another person appeared at the door, so Chin remained in place and was surprised to see Officer Iona standing before him.

“I figured you’d all want to go back with your man.  Jon will be here in about another thirty minutes with reinforcements to help me get this pair out of here.  We’ll hold them in custody here until you can arrange transportation back to Oahu.”

“We really appreciate it, thank you,” Chin relieved to know they can all go back with Danny.  He’d talk to his friend and make arrangements for the chopper to be collected.  Once they knew Danny was going to be alright then Steve would probably be happy to fly back to Moloka’i, collect the prisoners and return the chopper.

The older detective turned his attention back to the medic as she quickly assessed her patient.  An IV was placed in the back of Danny’s hand, oxygen mask over his face and with Steve, Chin and Officer Iona assisting she got him into the litter.  The three mobile team mates were lifted into the chopper after thanking Keanu Iona for staying and then Danny was finally lifted with the medic and the pilot then turned towards Oahu and Queens Medical.

 

 

-5-0-

 

 

Doctor Jensen had spent the last hour assessing and treating Danny; now he approached the waiting room to speak to his friends.  As usual they all stood to greet him before everyone sat down again, or in Steve’s case, stopped pacing.

“Alright so starting at the bottom and working my way up, Danny has rope burns and lacerations to both ankles and wrists.  The cuts aren’t deep enough for stitches but there are signs of infection, so we’re giving him IV antibiotics.  He has bruising round his throat but no swelling.  There’s a cut to his temple, again no stitches required, but there is an impressive bruise and lump, so it’s no surprise he has a minor concussion.  I understand that he has had a migraine for two days now and that’s the cause of the muscle weakness he mentioned to you Steve.  It’s called hemiparesis and can be one of the symptoms of a specific type of migraine called a hemiplegic migraine; these can be brought on by head trauma.  The hemiparesis will pass once the migraine resolves.  Obviously Danny is dehydrated and we have him on IV fluids as well as the antibiotics I previously mentioned.  We’ve given him a couple of injections of painkillers that will help with the headache symptoms and an antiemetic.”

“How long will he have to stay in the hospital for?” Steve asked.

“Once he’s regained consciousness and he can keep fluids down then we’ll remove the IV and he can go home with oral antibiotics, painkillers and an antiemetic.  The time that takes will be entirely up to Danny.  Remember he’s exhausted and been through a traumatic experience, so it will take some time.  You can go and see him if you like.  He’s been assigned a nice quiet room on a ward,” Doctor Jensen smiled as he watched the team hurry off to visit their friend.

 

 

-5-0-

 

 

It was several hours before Danny stirred.  Opening his eyes his first response was a groan as he realised he was once again in a hospital bed.

“Hey!” Steve leant over and smiled at him.  Danny tried to reply but his throat was dry, “Think you can manage to keep down some water?” At his nod Steve filled a cup, placed a straw in it and held it to Danny’s mouth, “Better?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he still didn’t sound quite like their Danny, but at least he could speak.

“How are you feeling?” Kono asked as she appeared at Steve’s shoulder.

“Tired.”

“And how’s your head?” Chin wanted to know.

“Still hurts but not as bad.  Vision’s clearer.”

“That’s good.”

“When can I get out of here?”

“Just woken up and you’re already trying to escape?” Doctor Jensen asked good naturedly as he entered the room, responding to the nurse’s page after Kono had slipped out to tell them Danny was awake.

“So?” he really wasn’t in the mood to be polite.  Every muscle ached and although his head felt better, it still hurt.  He was tired and grumpy which made him bad company.

“You finish that jug of water and manage to keep it all down then I’ll release you,” the doctor informed him, “You need to take it slowly though, don’t try to drink too much at once.”

“OK, thanks.”

Doctor Jensen shooed the other members of the team from the room as he gave Danny the once over, “You’re doing much better.  The muscle weakness has eased a little.”

“I wish the muscle aches would ease too,” seeing the Doctor’s questioning look he realised they didn’t know he’d been hogtied, so given how painful his shoulders were he filled him in.

“Ah, I see.  I’ll prescribe some muscle relaxants to help with that,” he made a note on the chart, “Once you’ve finished that water let one of the nurses know and I’ll come back to give you a final check before I release you.”

The doctor left and his friends returned to sit with him, even though all he was going to do was sleep.  He tried to convince them to leave and get some rest but they wouldn’t hear of it.  Right now where ever Danny was, that was where they wanted to be.


End file.
